I wish the best of luck to those trying to get relief on duty for goodsdonated for hurricane relief. Anything that can benefit Belizeans after thestorm I'm in favor of.

I would just say, though, that import duties are the #1 source of income forthe government of Belize, providing more revenue than income taxes. I thinkit is unlikely that the government is going to stop collecting its primarysource of income for six months. Or even six weeks. I agree that it's notthe best way to fund a government, but it's the way it's done.

That's like asking the U.S. and state governments to stop collecting incometaxes from residents in areas of the U.S. hit by a hurricane. It will neverhappen. For example, the state where I live, North Carolina, had sixBILLIONdollars in hurricane damage last year, and state residents got zero taxrelief (beyond standard deductions for casualty losses.) The governmentallocated some funds for hurricane relief, but they didn't do anything tochange the tax codes.

Ideally, there would be some way to provide for "spot" elimination of dutieson items specifically imported for hurricane relief and rebuilding. Theproblem is how do you do that? A lot of people bringing in vehicles, boats,building supplies, food, etc. are going to claim they are replacing whattheylost in the storm. Who determines what is legit and what is not? Should abig store in Belize City get duty free import of retail inventory claimeddamaged as a result of the storm? If someone lost a 1965 Ford truck shouldthey be allowed to bring in a 2000 Ford Truck to replace it? If a 500 sq.ft. house was destroyed by the storm can you bring in supplies sufficient tobuild a 1,000 sq. ft. house? Does a guy down in PG get to bring in stuffduty free even though there was little or no damage in PG? Does the familywith insurance get the same duty-free tax break as the family withoutinsurance? Is there no limit to how much can be imported -- do Bowen &Bowenand BTL get to import millions of dollars in duty-free materials to bringtheir equipment back up to perfect condition?

Who and what gets duty-free, and who and what doesn't?

It's a sticky wicket and not as clear as it might seem on the surface.

Lan, those are good points. I am sure that a system can be set up toresolve this in a way that works, though of course not perfectly (what worksperfectly in this world???)

1. DONATED ITEMS: NONE of the relief shipments now being sent should besubject to duty. The things that are now being sent are all "emergency"items being DONATED. There is paperwork to show that they are being DONATEDby private citizens to the TOWN BOARDS of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker.DONATED items sent to PUBLIC ENTITIES or CHARITIES should not be subject toduty. That is an easy group to separate, by requiring paperwork showing theSENDER and the RECIPIENT. That should continue to be the case anything thatis DONATED. To avoid fraud and abuse, you limit this to recipients of acharitable and govenmental nature, not "person to person" donations.

2. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS PURCHASED COMMERCIALLY AND NOT DONATED: Localentities should establish a quick way for people whose homes or businesseshave been damaged or destroyed to file a statement to that effect and simplystate their address. Enough photos have been taken (and more can be easilytaken) to corroborate damage. These people should be able to receive animmediate rebate on their purchase, and the merchant can file claims tocollect these rebates. To the extent that requires paperwork and delay, areasonable (and small) percentage of the rebate could be returned to themerchant to pay costs. This kind of thing is done all over the world whentourists go shopping. These are small islands and everybody knowseverybody and it will be hard to get awaywith claiming your home was damagedif it wasn't. It's right there in front of your eyes.

3. VEHICLES: The Ford truck situation is not really applicable to theCayes. Not many land vehicles there, enough to be able to easily document.And certainly, duties can be apportioned if the person who lost something isupgrading, the duty can be paid on the difference. Not rocket science.This would be applicable primarily on themainland, but again, I have notheard of thousands of cars being damaged.

4. BOATS: That will be easy to track, see paragraphs 2 and 3 above. It'smostly the island operators who lost boats and the town board can easilytrack who they are and document it. Here again, you can pro-rate the dutyif someone is upgrading. PARTS for damaged boats should be duty free sincethey are clearly caused by the hurricane damage.

It is nice to see the discussion being carried out in such a civil manner. My two cents... While I realize that taxes and duties were not suspended in the Carolina's cases, I don't believe that the Red Cross or other relief agencies were required to pay any kind of duties on their emergency relief. The posters of this board seem to be filling the vacuum left by the lack of "organized" relief agencies, and has moved at the speed of the internet, which is far faster than most agencies are able to respond. This is certainly not intended to be a cheap shot at the Red Cross and their ilk, but just an observation that a leaner, less structured grass root movement can move faster than one ladened with bureaucratic red tape, as evidenced by what has taken place in such a short span of time by the fair people who are populating this board. A hearty thanks to all who have participated, and to Marty for being a chief to all of us indians...